By George Bate & Josh Bate
Just weeks after his series Ahsoka came to an end, Dave Filoni has been announced as the Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm. Let’s break down what Filoni’s new promotion means.
Filoni’s promotion was announced in a sprawling Vanity Fair piece that provides some insight into what Star Wars will look like moving forward. Regarding his new position, Filoni said, “In the past, in a lot of projects I would be brought into, I would see it after it had already developed a good ways. “In this new role, it’s opened up to basically everything that’s going on. When we’re planning the future of what we’re doing now, I’m involved at the inception phase.”
This news means Filoni will work more directly with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and head of development Carrie Beck to oversee all Star Wars shows and movies. Filoni is quick to clarify, however, that his new role does not afford him unilateral power over everything in a galaxy far, far away. Instead, Filoni sees himself as a resource to other filmmakers as they craft narratives.
“I’m not telling people what to do,” Filoni says. “But I do feel I’m trying to help them tell the best story that they want to tell. I need to be a help across the galaxy here, like a part of a Jedi Council almost.”
In this sense, Filoni’s role doesn’t quite make him the Kevin Feige of Star Wars. Whereas Feige has his hand in commercial and narrative operations and has a heavy hand in the overarching narrative of the MCU, Filoni’s role seems to be less overarching. This means, unlike Feige, there are likely going to be Star Wars projects with minimal involvement from Filoni – like Andor.
Vanity Fair also confirmed that Filoni’s Star Wars film is still in development. This comes as the Ahsoka series opened the door to a theatrical adaptation of Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire.
Stay tuned to The HoloFiles and Star Wars Holocron for more Star Wars news!